


Loyalty

by obsessivemuch



Category: Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Character Death, Community: apocalyptothon, F/M, Family, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-19
Updated: 2009-07-19
Packaged: 2017-10-28 13:39:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/308424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obsessivemuch/pseuds/obsessivemuch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's what families do for each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loyalty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [escritoireazul](https://archiveofourown.org/users/escritoireazul/gifts).



> Written for Apocalyptothon on LJ  
> Set prior to Fast & Furious

Brian catches up to them in Phoenix. Dom's never quite stopped looking over his shoulder, but the contempt he once felt for Brian the cop has been tempered by memories of Brian the friend and burying too many other friends. If Dom was the kind of guy who wasted time analyzing his own actions, he'd probably figure out the reasons why he didn't kill him on sight. Instead, he lets fly a right hook that knocks Brian back on his heels.

"Dom!" Mia squeals and rushes to Brian's side.

"Still, Mia?" Dom asks, rubbing his smarting hand. When Letty lifts it to examine the bruise, he feels the fire run up his skin. "God."

"You didn't have to hit him, Dom." Mia glares mutinously, her body still uncomfortably close to Brian.

"Yeah, I did," he says equably. None of them fight much anymore; there's no reason to do it and it's a waste of energy better left to running and taking out the real enemy.

Mia opens her mouth to start in on him again, but Brian stirs under her hand. "Fuck, Dom," he groans.

"Don't worry. Your pretty face did more damage to my hand."

"You shouldn't move," Mia interrupts, but Brian's face clears and he struggles to sit up. His besotted look should be enough of a warning to Mia (Dom gets it right away), but she squats, watching his eyes intently.

Dom looks at Letty, but she's already anticipated the direction of his thoughts, proving once again why there's no one he'd rather have at his back in a firefight. "Mia," she calls, breaking an exchange of glances that's lasted too long for his liking. "I think Dom broke his hand on O'Connor's face."

"Damn, Letty, why'd you say that?" Dom hisses as a pleased look passes over Brian's face.

"Serves you right," she mutters under her breath. It's clear that she agrees with Mia about hitting Brian though for an entirely different reason. She's disappointed that he didn't put a cap in Brian's ass for breaking Mia's heart in the first place. As Mia hurries over, Letty cocks her gun in Brian's direction. "I've got this."

"Letty!" Mia barely peers at Dom's hand before she's next to Letty again, looking down at Brian. "Put It down."

"No."

Dom knows that Letty won't bend on this matter, that she loathes Brian more because she loves them both, but he also knows that Mia's just as stubborn. Stuck between the two, he tries on the unusual role of peacemaker. "Letty, it's fine. We'll just leave here a little earlier than we planned." It's an attempt to calm her down, reassure her that they won't be taking Brian.

"I won't leave him behind," Mia says softly, surprising all three of them.

"Mia?" Brian asks. Letty cocks the gun again.

"It's not your decision, Mia," Dom says.

"He's a good shot in a fight. Jesus, Dom, he was a cop."

"And when he turns the guns on us?"

"It's what families do for each other," she says steadily, raising her chin and staring him in the face.

"He's not family, Mia." It's not a surprise from Letty. She doesn't get the weird jumbled feelings that Dom and Mia have for Brian. She blames him for Jesse and Vince and Leon.

"Yes, he is," Mia answers, turning to look at Dom. "He let you go, Dom. He didn't have to, but he did because you're family to him."

"You don't even know if he's really Brian O'Connor," Letty says.

"Yes, we do," Dom answers, gesturing at the red blood on his hand. It's enough to convince him; he's shot enough of the bastards to know that they bleed black. "I guess it's your lucky day, O'Connor. Get in the car."

"This is the hunk of junk you drive, Dom?" The surprise in Brian's voice doesn't make Dom want to punch him less.

"I drive whatever I find for as long as we can."

"Where are you running to?"

"Canada," Dom says, lying through his teeth. To admit that there's no plan isn't something he's going to say out loud. He shifts gears and races the engine, feeling the sand shifting beneath his tires. Glancing at Letty, he pushes hard on the gas, pretending that he's just a guy taking his girl out again. The illusion only lasts long enough to catch sight of Brian in the backseat, his eyes focusing on his baby sister.

* * *

Dom hears the girls settle next door and pauses outside the window. "I don't know why you did it, Mia."

"Because he was almost family, Letty. In more ways than one."

"You would let him have that much power over you again?"

"He's always had that much power over me, Letty. Distance and time haven't changed that much."

"Shit, girl . . ." Dom hears the worry in Letty's tone and curses Brian's existence yet again.

"It's no different than your relationship with Dom."

"Uh, yeah, it is. Dom's never betrayed me, Mia."

"Not even –"

"Never."

"You have him so whipped," Mia says with admiration in his voice.

Letty, always his girl, shoots this idea down immediately. "No, Mia, we just watch each other's backs."

* * *

Sharing a room with Brian is a bad idea, but it's the only idea Dom can think up to keep Brian and Mia separated. He fears him breaking his little sister's heart, but he thinks it might already be too late judging from Brian's lovesick expression. "Look, Dom, I want you to promise me something."

"I don't owe you nothin'."

"Yeah, I know," Brian says, "but if you won't do it for me, do it for Mia."

"You've got an awful lot of nerve bringing her name into this."

Brian avoids his gaze, cleaning his gun methodically. After a long moment, he quietly answers, "I want you to kill me if they take me."

"You plannin' on going somewhere?"

"No," he says, his blue eyes flashing. "But I don't want to put Mia at risk. You know she'd be the first one they'd go after."

Dom can't deny the truth of that. Once he might have laughed and reminded Brian that he had broken Mia's heart, but after the last few weeks, hell, after the last few years, it doesn't matter anymore. Death would come to take them all eventually – they couldn't keep running forever.

He finally nods. "To protect Mia."

* * *

They all survive another six months before Brian disappears during a trip to an ice machine one night. When Mia bursts into their room with wild eyes, Dom's on his feet in an instant, gun in hand. "He's gone," she sobs.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Letty murmurs half-heartedly, but she's picked up her gun as well. "Mia, you have to stay here."

"I won't," she says, but Dom looks at her, looks at the slight swell of her belly where her hand unconsciously rests.

"You will," Dom answers in a steely voice. He doesn't mention the baby, but his promise to Brian echoes in his head. He doesn't want Mia to see the results of that promise. "We'll bring him back if we can, Mia, but you have to stay safe. You know Brian would want that for you."

Her hand is no longer unconscious on her stomach as she nods and sinks into the decrepit chair. "Be careful. I can't lose you."

When Dom and Letty find Brian, his T-shirt is soaked with blood, not the beautiful red blood that pulses through humanity, but black blood that reminds them both that they are never safe. "Letty, go back to Mia," Dom orders, his eyes never leaving Brian. "Protect her." When Letty starts to protest, he shakes his head. "Go now." It's just Brian and him now, his eyes shining with an emptiness that Dom's never seen before. "I'm sorry, man," Dom says, lifting his gun and pointing it directly at Brian's forehead. "I made a promise to you a long time ago." The gunshot sounds louder than it should in the night air. Dom watches as the shell of Brian falls to the pavement, waits to see if it moves again, and turns away to go to comfort Mia and kiss Letty as he always does when mortality touches them.

Because it's what families do for each other.


End file.
